Firefighter Kurogane
by Scarlet Heaven
Summary: Kurogane is living in alone in a tenement in the US. His past is a mystery but one thing is for sure; he never really grasps the meaning of insanity until he meets Fye, a man whose home was destroyed by arson. Just what is he hiding?
1. Chapter 1: The Night Sky

**Firefighter Kurogane**

**by Scarlet Heaven**

Wow... this is my first actual fanfiction!!! *eyes glimmer dramatically* I've been hooked on Tsubasa Chronicle for quite a while now, so it's about time I started writing some fan material.

Warnings: Cursing, shonen-ai, and violence. (Only the first will be occurring in this chapter)

Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE is the sole property of the beautiful and successful goddesses, CLAMP. No matter how much us fans want to take over the plot, it's still theirs.

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**Chapter 1: The Night Sky**

The sun was just setting over the city skyline and the view was incredible. Icy blues and purples melded into fiery reds and oranges creating a beautiful display in the sky with the brilliantly shining sun at the center. It was the perfect balance between the cool, clear skies and the warm, solid light of the sun. It was almost symbolic, in a way. Symbolic of what, however, only hitsuzen knows.

Inside one of the many tenements that made up the labyrinth of the city, sat a man completely ignorant of the amazing spectacle happening right outside his window. The man wore a black sweater coupled with a black scarf and dark denim jeans. He was very tall with long legs and a powerful, heavy build, mostly sinew. He had short spiked black hair, tanned skin, and unusually colored bright red eyes. He sat at a desk at the side of the room opposite the window glaring a hole through the pile of papers in front of him as if they had personally offended him.

He read over one of the papers and grumbled angrily to himself as he scratched out his signature on the bottom. "Stupid bills! How do they figure that I used so much water?" he murmured, grudgingly. The man sat at the desk for a few more minutes, continuously fidgeting and becoming increasingly irritated as he read over and signed the papers. Finally, he reached the end of his patience and snapped. His pen cracked in his hand and he cursed as the standard blue ink spattered all over his bills. The man threw the broken pen at the wall with a snarl, leaving a dent and a splattering of ink on the wine colored wallpaper. The man stood and stared at the scene, scowling. He stood there for a moment and finally exhaled heavily, running a hand through his black, naturally spiked hair. " 'need some fresh air." he seemed to mumble to himself.

The man walked away from the mess of ink and papers into an simple living room with an ash gray color scheme. He picked up a black leather biker jacket that had been laid out carelessly on a couch and headed for the front door, slinging the jacket casually over his shoulder. He was nearly out the door when he noticed a light brown shape in his peripheral vision.

He turned to see a small brown puppy with floppy ears and a dark spot of fur over it's right eye staring up at him anxiously from its bed in the corner of the room. The creature seemed disturbed by the man's sudden outburst but didn't appear to be afraid. The man glanced outdoors then looked back at the puppy and groaned. " I guess I should take you for a walk, huh?" he said, laying his biker jacket back on the couch. The puppy just stared and tilted it's head slightly to the side. The man chuckled quietly at the creature's reaction and the puppy seemed to realize that there was no danger. It got up onto its feet and its tail started waving slowly from side to side.

The man walked over to the puppy and stretched his hand out so that it could get accustomed to his smell. The animal neared the man's hand, sniffed it briefly, then ran it's wet tongue over the man's fingers affectionately. The man drew his hand away and looked disgustedly at the drool on his fingers. The puppy became more exited and anxious as to what was going to happen as the black haired man connected the leash to its collar and stood up, ready to go outside.

"Your name's 'Little Puppy', right?" asked Kurogane. The puppy only responded by perking it's ears up. The man scoffed as he opened the door and led the puppy outside. "Pretty damn weird name for a dog if you ask me. Seriously, what the hell was Tomoyo thinking when she named you?" he asked nobody, locking the door to his room and strolling down the carpeted hallway of the tenement. The puppy, despite being so small, had no trouble keeping up with the man's long and heavy stride as they passed out of the tenement and down the street.

The air outside was crisp and cool with the threat of frost and the constant breeze picked up leaves of many different fiery colors tossing them into the air. The sun had nearly set and the beautiful colors of earlier had faded into a deep red sliver against the horizon surrounded by an expanse of dark and cloudy blue. Enough people were passing through the streets so that it was not desolate but neither were there enough people for it to be crowded. Overall, it was a beautiful autumn evening.

"Hey Kurogane! What's with the puppy? Is it yours?" called out a lady from the opposite side of the street. The man turned his head in her direction. The woman had short black hair, green eyes, and light brown skin. She was wearing a silky violet dress that gave her a mysterious but not indecent. appearance.

"Ugh, it's just you." grumbled the man named Kurogane, loud enough for her to hear from the other side of the street.

The lady waited for a few cars to pass before hurriedly crossing the street to meet Kurogane.

"Oh my god!" she squealed. "You didn't tell me you had a puppy!" she crouched down to the animal's level and began stroking it behind the ears without asking for permission to do so.

"'s not mine. I'm just taking care of it until Tomoyo finds another owner for it." he explained curtly.

"Aww, really? You should keep him, he's so cute!" she squealed again. The puppy licked Souma's hand and she giggled like a little girl. Kurogane looked away in distaste.

"So how's business been going lately?" Kurogane asked her, trying to distract her from playing with the puppy. It worked and the lady got up and straightened her dress before answering.

"Well, recently Tomoyo's been meeting with a group of Italian designers and they've been testing her to see if she'd make good material. They're considering hiring her to work with the group. I think she's probably going to get the job." she said.

"Good for her." replied Kurogane, lacking enthusiasm. "Even better for me if she moves off to Italy with them. Or just some place where she can't talk my head off every time she sees me." he finished, smirking.

"Kurogane, that's mean!" Souma pouted. "This job means a lot to her! And to me too!" she chided.

"Yeah, yeah. I get it." Kurogane huffed. Souma smiled.

"The weather's been really nice lately, huh?" she commented, looking up at the darkening sky.

"Sure, whatever." Kurogane replied indifferently. Souma's looked at him disappointedly.

"So how are you doing? Have you found a new job yet?" she asked.

"Yeah. At that lumber yard just out of town. The pay's pretty good but not as good as the last one." he commented shortly.

Souma's expression was doubtful. "Really, Kurogane? A lumber yard? I don't see why you can't just go back to being a firefighter. I'm positive they're dying to have you back. You were the best one they ever had and I'm not exaggerating there." She said.

Kurogane suddenly became serious. "I quit that job two year ago and I'm not going back." he said severely.

Souma looked frustrated and confused.

"Why? Is this about what happened back then? That incident? You know that wasn't your fault-"

"That's bull." snapped the dark haired man. "Bye Souma, see you tomorrow." he said, turning away and obviously ending the discussion.

"Kurogane!" shouted Souma incredulously as she watched the man trudge away. She shook her head skeptically with her hands on her hips. After a few cars passed, she ran back across the street into a building with a flashy sign that read "Piffle Princess-Clothing Design". The sun had set quite a while ago and the streetlamps had already been lit.

Kurogane was now leading the puppy back to the tenement. There were only a few people on the streets now, scurrying about with last minute unfinished business. It was very quiet and the previously low temperature had dropped several more degrees. Kurogane smelled something and looked up to the sky to see a tower of smoke drifting up into the air. Apparently, other people had noticed it too, because the few people that were still outside at this hour had stopped to stare at the house the smoke was coming from."Is that smoke? Do you think there's a fire?" one asked. "Yes it probably is. But why isn't the smoke alarm going off?" asked another.

The people started muttering nervously amongst each other and Kurogane could only stare and wonder why none of them had called for help yet.

"Look! Up there!" someone shouted.

All eyes turned to the window at the top floor of the two story house. A man with blond hair wearing a light blue knit turtleneck appeared at the window and spotted the people watching.

"Please! Someone call for help! There's a fire!" he shouted.

Immediately, a young woman with pale pink hair and dark skin whipped out her cell phone and started dialing.

Kurogane turned back to see that the man had not left the window.

"Why the hell are you still there?!" he shouted.

"Shouldn't you get out?!" The man smiled as if nothing was the matter.

"I wish I could but the fire's blocked the only exits and I don't think I can jump from here." he explained, shouting back.

Looking very annoyed at the man's nonchalant manner, Kurogane shouted. "Do you have a ladder?" he called.

"Yeah. There's one in the driveway on the left side." the smiling man called back. Kurogane tied his puppy's leash to a nearby fencepost.

He ran to the driveway of the house, and found the metal ladder as the man had said under a pile of plastic piping, bags, and other debris. He wrenched the heavy ladder free and rushed to the side of the house with it.

"Do you think you can climb down on your own?" The red eyed man called up to the window.

The blond considered for a moment.

"No, I fractured my ankle recently. I can walk pretty well but It's really a hassle climbing things." he said humorously.

Kurogane growled angrily to himself before responding. "I'm going to climb up the ladder and carry you down, okay? Once I've got this thing set up, don't try to get down by yourself or you could hurt yourself. Got it?" he asked.

The man cocked his head to the side confusedly. "Shouldn't you wait for the firefighters to do that?" he asked.

Kurogane's patience visibly dissolved. "Shut up! I have experience so just shut the hell up and wait for me!" he snarled as he began to set up the ladder.

By the time the ladder was set up against the side of the house, the far-off sound of wailing sirens could be heard. Kurogane reached the top of the ladder to find that the blond man was still smiling like an idiot.

"I need you to try to climb out of the window. Can you do that?" asked Kurogane.

The man suddenly ducked out of sight without warning.

"Where the hell did-" he started but stopped when the man appeared in the window again with a reddish brown kitten in his arms.

The man started to speak but was cut off by Kurogane. "What the fuck is that?!" he shouted.

"This is my little kitty. She doesn't have a name yet but she's very well behaved." the blond chattered as he shoved the trembling kitten into Kurogane's arms.

"Please take her down first." he said, all of a sudden serious.

The man had looked like he hadn't a care in the world but now he looked somber and even a little worried.

Kurogane exhaled heavily before speaking again. "You mean to tell me that you think I'm going to put a f---ing cat's life before a human being? You're insane, get down here!" he shouted, trying to hand the weakly mewling kitten back to the blond. But the man stepped back away from the window, putting on another bright smile.

"Please take her down first. I have to go get something. I'll be back by the time you get back up." he said. Before Kurogane could protest, the blond man dashed back inside the building and out of sight.

Kurogane stood there on the ladder briefly, dumbfounded, then snarling with fury, he moved down the ladder. When he reached the bottom, he stomped over to a scrawny looking man staring with his mouth wide open and thrusted the kitten at him.

"Take this thing. Don't lose it." he said hastily. "Does anyone have a water bottle?!" he shouted to the stunned audience.

The woman that had called the police earlier stepped forwards and handed Kurogane a water bottle from her purse.

"What are you gonna use that for? 'Cuz it's sure not gonna put the fire out, brother." she stated.

Kurogane only glared at her as he took off his scarf and used the water bottle to soak it. He wrung out the garment impatiently.

"Hey lady." he started.

"Caldina." she interrupted.

"Sure, Caldina. Can you call the fire department and tell them to stop screwing around? They should have been here a long time ago." he finished.

"No problem, bro." she answered, whipping out her cell phone again.

By this point, the hungry tongues of flame could be seen from the bottom floor windows of the house. It was clear now that the fire was very big already, and spreading at a dangerous rate. Kurogane wrapped the damp garment securely around his mouth and nose before starting up the ladder again. He reached the window and heaved himself through into the building.

The smoke was thick and it filled the entire room. It was unusually dark because none of the lights were turned on. Kurogane made his way through the room, ignoring the way the smoke stung his eyes. At the very least he could breathe fairly well because of his scarf. He made his way through the building, searching but finding nothing.

The smoke was getting thicker by the second and the air was heating up very fast. It was as hot as an oven. If Kurogane looked hard enough, he could see the flames in the hallway racing to devour everything in sight. Just as he was about to give up looking, Kurogane spotted the cornflower blue of the man's shirt on the floor in front of a desk of some sort. The red eyed man hurried over to the unconscious man and slung him over his shoulder.

He began making his way back to the window when he heard a sound that made his blood run cold. It was the sound of the house structure straining and creaking against its beams. The house was about to collapse with them inside. Kurogane trudged with difficulty over to the window and over to the window. Not allowing himself to panic, he adjusted the man draped on his shoulder and stepped out on to the window frame.

The people watching from outside gasped in amazement and fear as they saw the black haired man emerge from the building with the unconscious blonde over his shoulder. Kurogane paid them no attention. He turned and steadily began lowering himself onto the ladder.

Suddenly, a terrible blood curdling series of cracks and groans could be heard and the house shook violently. Fiery sparks were spewed from the windows that had been shattered into millions of pieces on the bottom level. Kurogane lost his balance on the ladder and nearly fell. Before he began to plummet, he reached out and grabbed hold of one of the ladder's rungs. The blond man slipped off his shoulder and almost fell, but Kurogane caught his wrist at the last second.

A woman from the crowd screamed and someone else fainted. The ladder swayed alarmingly but settled after a few seconds. Kurogane regained his footing on the ladder slowly and carefully. The weight of the blond man was causing him a great strain and he was losing resistance. He hung on the ladder for a while trying to muster enough strength to pull the man back up.

If he were to fall from here, he could at the least escape with a few sprains, but for the unconscious man, the worst case would be that he could snap his neck or spine and die. The house gave another loud groan and Kurogane made his move. With an incredible amount of strength, he jerked the dangling man towards him and caught him in a one armed grip against his body. Chest heaving with the effort, he began the climb back down the ladder.

As he reached the ground, a pair of arms caught him and kept him from falling backwards. Another pair of arms removed the blond man from his grip and carried him off. As Kurogane looked around, he become aware of the firefighters that had arrived and that were now attempting to put out the flames. "Sir, are you all right?" asked the person that was supporting him. His face was covered by a thick helmet so Kurogane could not see his face. He tried to regain his balance and stand on his own but stumbled and fell flat on his back. The young firefighter attending him hurried down to him and briskly removed the constricting scarf from around his face.

The man began to repeat his question but Kurogane interrupted him, wheezing.

"I'm.. fine. What about...that... other guy?" he managed before jerking violently into a coughing fit. The firefighter started to call a paramedic over to give him aid but Kurogane grabbed the man's ankle to stop him.

"I... don't... need... some... stupid... oxygen... mask." he gasped unconvincingly.

"But, sir..." the man started, looking a bit flustered.

Kurogane looked around and caught sight of the blond man. He was currently laid out on a stretcher under an oxygen mask.

"Oh, that man." said the firefighter, noticing where Kurogane was looking. "He should be fine. He only inhaled enough smoke to make him pass out so he should be fine." he explained.

"Do you know him?" he asked.

"No... Although I can tell just from listening to him that he must be completely insane." replied Kurogane, attempting to get up again. This time he was prepared to get up and kept perfectly in balance when he got to his feet. His whole upper body was sore and most assuredly bruised from the almost-fall from the window, but otherwise fine.

"Sir, I have to ask; have you had experience with this kind of thing before?" asked the man.

"That's not something I want to talk to strangers about. And take that thing off your head." Kurogane ordered irritably.

The man became flustered again. "Oh, of course! I'm sorry, sir." he answered.

When the firefighter took his helmet off, Kurogane could only stand and stare blankly. The 'man' was actually a young teenage boy with brown hair and chestnut brown eyes. He looked to be around eighteen but certainly not old enough to be a firefighter. "

Kid..." started Kurogane. "Just how old are you?" he asked suspiciously.

"I'm nineteen. I'm only working here as a trainee, though." replied the boy. "My name is Syaoran, by the way." he said with a perfect formal bow.

Kurogane did not return the gesture but raised an eyebrow.

The boy named Syaoran seemed to realize his mistake and became flustered all over again. "I'm terribly sorry, sir. I moved here from Hong Kong a few months ago and I still haven't gotten used to the customs here." he explained embarrassedly, extending his hand in common American courtesy.

Kurogane took the hand, shaking it briskly. "Lighten up, kid. Nobody's going to bite your head off for giving the wrong greeting. Your English is pretty good for someone who's only been here a few months." he said gruffly.

"Thanks." replied the boy with an honest smile.

"It looks like the fire is being taken care of so you can go home now if you want." he said, looking around. While the two had been talking, the firefighters had been working at stopping the fire. The flames had nearly died out and the ones that remained were being suppressed by the second.

The building was no longer in danger of collapsing but it had been burned to the point that it would never be suitable for living in again. The blond man had just lost his home and with it, probably everything he owned. Kurogane excused himself from Syaoran and walked over to the stretcher on which the blond was lying.

He looked him over once, disapprovingly. The man's clothes were charred and blackened by smoke, even ripped in some places. His light skin was also blackened by smoke and was covered in darkening bruises in some places, especially on his wrist where Kurogane had grabbed him. He was breathing through a clear oxygen mask which would fog up every time he exhaled.

Kurogane turned to the medic attending the blond. "How is he?" he asked.

"He should be waking up in a short while." replied the medic, shortly, distracted with a chart he was studying.

When Kurogane turned back to the blond, he was surprised to see him awake and looking straight at him.

The man had his head turned in Kurogane's direction, his eyes half lidded, looking as he might drift off to sleep at any given second. His eyes were light blue, almost matching in color to his shirt, a detail that Kurogane had been too busy to notice earlier. When Kurogane turned around, the man's face lifted in a weak smile.

"People are always saying how beautiful the sky is during the day, but I think it looks best at night, don't you? All the stars are like jewels set in black velvet. It's astounding, don't you think?" the blond prattled weakly, his voice sounding strange through the mask.

"You're fucking insane, you know that." Kurogane growled. In response, the man's smile only widened.

"Now, now, Mister Black, you shouldn't curse. It's bad for you." the man replied. Kurogane blinked, unable to believe what he had just heard.

"What the hell did you just call me?! Are you fucking blind?! I'm not black, you racist bastard!" snarled the dark haired man.

"Hmm? Oh, you mean 'Mister Black'? I came up with that name for you because you're dressed all in black and you're always frowning like you have a big black cloud over your head." the man joked, almost laughing but stopping himself before he started coughing.

Kurogane's scowl became even more prominent. "You know, if you weren't injured right now I'd kill you." he said, menacingly.

"I can see that you're the kind of person who would do that, too." the man joked again. Kurogane heaved a frustrated sigh.

"You do realize that your house just burned down, right?" asked Kurogane critically. The man's expression darkened for a second with some unspoken grief, but the expression disappeared as fast as it came.

"Hmm, that's going to be a problem, isn't it?" he said thoughtfully.

Kurogane appeared baffled by the man's speed at switching moods. "You almost died back there, you idiot! Why did you go back into that building?!" he said angrily, but quietly enough not to disturb the medic.

"Oh, I'm fine apart from a few scratches and those can't quite kill me, can they?" the man said, jokingly again, ignoring the question.

Kurogane stood dumbfounded for a moment then shook his head. "You are insane. I'm leaving. Good luck finding a new house." he said sarcastically, turning away and leaving.

From behind him came the blonde's lighthearted laughter which soon dissolved into a fit of coughing.

Kurogane went to where he had tied up 'Little Puppy' but all he found was an empty collar lying on the ground. Tomoyo was going to completely freak out on him when she found out he had lost her puppy. The fear of the fire had probably driven the animal away and it was most likely far away by now. So Kurogane set home again with the puppy's green collar in his pocket, frustrated and exhausted at the past few hour's events. He wanted nothing more than to sleep.

When he reached his tenement, the first thing Kurogane did was to undress before collapsing into his king size bed. He began to fall asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow but not before taking a good look at the night sky outside his window to ponder something. He drifted off before he had time to finish his thoughts and began sleeping soundly in a matter of seconds.

The skies outside were faded by the light of streetlamps and stores that had yet to shut down for the night. A sickly turquoise haze could be seen on the horizon and the lights of the city discolored the sky. Only a single star close to the crescent moon could be seen shining determinedly through the smog. It was nothing near as clear as it should have been, but some of the heaven's beauty still managed to show its existence. That was a beauty in itself.

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Arigatou to everyone who has reviewed me so far!!!! I'm really hope you enjoyed the first chapter! I like to use a lot of imagery so I hope it wasn't overused. I should have the next chapter finished in a few days depending on my school workload. Thanks for reading! ^^


	2. Chapter 2: Tea with Tomoyo

**Firefighter Kurogane**

**by Scarlet Heaven**

Well, it's November and I'm finally back with a new chapter! I'm very sorry for making you wait so long for this and I'm not going to make excuses for my lateness. Although I can say that October was very very hectic for me and I didn't have very much time for fun. It's such a good feeling to know that people are actually reading this and enjoying it. I promise that if you all keep reading and giving input, I will get this story finished! Thank you.

Warnings: Cursing, shonen-ai, and violence.

Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE is the sole property of the beautiful and successful goddesses, CLAMP. No matter how much us fans want to take over the plot, it's still theirs.

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Kurogane woke up with a groan to the familiar sound of his alarm clock going off. Normally, Kurogane was an early riser, but today, the dark haired man was forced to drag himself out of bed to turn off the wailing clock that showed seven in the morning. He trudged into the bathroom to check his condition.

There were darkening bruises all along the right side of his body, several on his legs and all over his hands. He flexed the aforementioned only to wince in pain. He should have taken a day off work, knowing that work at the lumber yard was going to be torture for his injuries, but that just wasn't the kind of person Kurogane was.

Once he was finished in the bathroom, he changed into some old jeans and a gray mottled long sleeve shirt with red designs on the sleeves. When he was dressed, he went outside his apartment to pick up the newspaper left by the apartment mail courier. He then prepared himself a distastefully bland breakfast of dry toast, leftover baked fish, and some plain black coffee. Taking a sip of the hot liquid, he picked up the paper and scanned over the front page.

His eyes suddenly widened in shock as he read over a headline on the front page and he just barely avoided splashing hot coffee all over himself. The headline read "Local Civilian Risks Life to Save Cat From Burning Building". Below the bold letters was a slightly fuzzy picture of Kurogane with his back to the camera going down a ladder carrying the blond man's cat. Kurogane went red with rage "What the hell?!" he sputtered. His eyes flickered madly over the page, reading the paragraph describing the incident in detail with reporter commentary, conveniently leaving out the fact that there was even a man in the house in the first place. Kurogane read the names of the reporters that wrote the article.

The article had been written by a woman named Yuuko Ichihara. "I have no idea who you are but screw you." he grumbled to himself.

The name of the photographer was Caldina Chizeta. "Agh! It's that lady with the phone! Damn you!" shouted Kurogane, infuriate.

Refusing to read anymore, he stood up and threw the paper in the trash. He picked up his toast and shoved it into his mouth, washing it down with the rest of his coffee. He stomped around angrily as he moved, putting his dishes into the sink to clean later and over to the couch for his biker jacket and helmet.

Soon, he was out the door and on his way to the parking lot next to the apartment complex. By the time he reached the parking lot, he had cooled down a little. He was still grumbling, though, as he walked up to his sleek, black motorcycle. He took a second to admire the vehicle for a second, as always, then mounted it, ready for the drive to work. The temperature was warmer than it was yesterday, but the occasional breeze caused the people on the streets to shiver.

The sky was clear apart from a scattering of cirrus clouds, and the sun was high in the sky. Kurogane raced on his motorbike along the road that led to the lumber yard, hurrying so as not to be late. He went as fast as the speed limit allowed, looking very much like a delinquent as he did so. By now he had calmed down considerably since reading the news report in the morning. However, he appeared to be feeling his wounds as he sat stiffly in his seat and instead of anger, he was left with a debilitating sense of anxiety.

Once he arrived at the lumber yard and tried to get off his motorcycle, he nearly fell over face first in the dirt. His body had stiffened during the ride and the pain seemed to have grown. He was terribly out of shape. Apparently, not even physical labor at the lumber yard was enough exercise for the very dismal looking man. Kurogane took a moment to gather himself and set off to work, stomping.

As he walked, he felt the eyes of several people watching him from behind. He didn't turn around, however. He passed a few workers who were also staring at him and pointing with incredulity. They seemed to be gossiping among themselves like old women. At this, he did stop and glare, startling them into going back to what they were doing before. He made his way to the equipment and grabbed a chainsaw, surprised at first, by the strain it's weight caused on him, but brushed it off easily and made his way to a wide cluster of trees where other men were already working. At least these people were too busy with their work to notice him. It seemed that the entire lumber yard was staring at him for some reason.

Kurogane was just about to begin sawing into a thick tree trunk when someone called out to him in a familiar but annoying voice. "Hey, Kurogane! How's it going?"

Kurogane huffed and turned around. "Kujaku. What do you want?" he asked, irritated.

"Now, Mr. Kurogane, is that any way to talk to the person that pays you?" scolded the man that had walked up to greet him.

He was nearly a foot shorter than Kurogane with dark hair of a black-purplish hue like the ink of a cheap ballpoint pen. The man was grinning up at his employee like they were the best of friends. Kurogane grimaced. To anyone that had just met him, Kujaku would appear to be an open and good natured person, but to Kurogane, the smile was morbid and twisted. It was as if it was designed to lure people into a false sense of calm before he... did whatever evil things he intended to do. Kujaku stared at Kurogane for a few seconds as if waiting for a retort, then shook his head, laughing.

"I assume you read the newspaper this morning?" he asked. Kurogane's hands balled up into fists. "Yeah. What about it?" he asked through gritted teeth. "Just that, you seem to have become some sort of hero in our city overnight. I never knew just how much you loved animals." said Kujaku sympathetically.

"If I ever see that reporter again, I'm going to wring her neck for all that bullshit she wrote about me!" Shouted in fury and slamming his fist into a nearby tree, causing several heads to turn in alarm. Kujaku pointedly ignored his outburst. "I also see that you seem to have hurt yourself doing so." he continued. "I saw you almost fall over back there getting off your bike." he stated. Kurogane didn't answer, instead choosing to glare silently at his boss, trying to restrain himself from hitting him instead of another tree.

"Take the day off." said Kujaku.

Kurogane froze. "What?" he asked blankly.

"Actually, take the next few days off. As long as it takes you to heal. I have no use for a wounded worker and I can't have everyone else staring and gossiping and not working." Kujaku explained, starting to walk away.

Kurogane came to his senses. "You... You can't just suspend me like that! I haven't even started working yet!" protested Kurogane, sputtering. Kujaku stopped walking and turned his head with a professionally faked confused expression.

"You _are_ getting paid, you know. Do you really have nothing better to do but to work here?" he asked.

"Alright, alright! I'll go home!" Kurogane shouted in resignation. Kujaku just grinned and walked off to another worker who had just felled a large tree.

As Kurogane left to return the chainsaw, he could hear Kujaku telling the worker something that sounded something like "Hmm. The stump you left on this one is a few inches too long. You're getting a little sloppy there. I guess I'll have to take it out of your paycheck."

Kurogane shuddered. It was very strange and completely out of character of his boss to give him paid leave of absence, but Kurogane was definitely not complaining.

* * *

Halfway back to his apartment, Kurogane remembered that he had to stop at the local 'Shopping Store' for some milk. The near redundancy of the store's name always made Kurogane a little suspicious, but it had the best prices in the area so he went there anyway.

The dark haired man had entered the store after parking his motorcycle outside and started for the dairy section but stopped in his tracks when he felt someone staring at him. This gaze, however, was very different from the ones his coworkers had given him earlier. It was unsettling. He slowly turned his head to see who it was that was staring at him.

Near the candy section, a little girl around three years old with her almost white blond hair tied up in ponytails with red sparkles in them. One of her hands was holding onto a stuffed round bunny which was hanging limply by its ears like some wretched hurt animal. The girl's other hand was stuck in her mouth, where she sucked it noisily. She was staring at Kurogane, her thin, nearly closed eyes shining in awe.

Kurogane shook his head to clear his mind and tried to ignore the girl. He walked over to the freezers and took his time selecting the least expensive brand of milk and checking to see if there was anything else he needed. He had nearly forgotten the girl by the time he was finished but when he turned around to leave he nearly dropped his milk in surprise.

The little girl had been standing directly behind him for who knows how long. Kurogane stared down in horror as the little girl looked straight up at him, having to tilt her head all the way back to see his face. She was still sucking on her hand.

"What is it?" asked Kurogane tentatively.

The girl removed her hand from her mouth trailing a string of saliva from it. She pointed up at Kurogane. He suddenly felt like throwing up.

"KITTY MAN! KITTY MAN! KITTY MAN!" she shouted in a voice so loud and high pitched that it made people stop what they were doing and look around.

"Uhhh..." Kurogane was at a loss for words. The girl giggled. She raised the stuffed bunny as high as she could stretch. It swayed from side to side sickeningly like the victim of a hanging.

"KISS KITTY, KITTY MAN!" she ordered, with a wicked looking gap-toothed smile.

Kurogane suddenly realized what was going on. The girl had watched the news report and thought he was some kind of savior of cats. Kurogane was suddenly very tired. "Look, kid; That wasn't me, okay? You got the wrong goddamn guy. Just take your weird 'kitty' and go play with it or something. I don't want to talk right now."

The girl's eyes suddenly opened wide, looking almost like they were popping out of her head. She screamed and hit him in the ribs with her stuffed bunny. Kurogane nearly doubled over due to combined shock of the girl's retaliation and the pain. She was stronger than she looked.

"AUNTIIIIIE!!!" she screeched, her eyes beginning to fill with tears.

Kurogane had straightened up just in time to receive a devastating blow to his head that sent him reeling to the floor.

"Oops, my purse seems to have slipped." said the woman standing over him.

Kurogane stayed on the floor, silently cursing and cradling his throbbing head. The person stepped over him, being careful not to trip.

"Awww, don't cry, Mokona. Did that bad man say mean things to you? It's alright now. Auntie's going to punish him for you." the woman told the sniffling little girl, soothingly.

Kurogane got to his feet, still rubbing the back of his head.

"You should know better than to curse in front of children." the woman scolded him.

The woman was tall and thin with very long, sleek black hair, a very pale complexion, and eyes almost as red as Kurogane's own. She looked like a model with her voluptuous curves and long legs. She wore what appeared to be designer clothing that was perfect for fall and very stylish. She was staring at him, smiling calmly like the cat that ate the canary. Kurogane glared at her, not saying anything.

"Well, aren't you going to apologize to my niece?" she asked.

"Why the hell I should apologize to that brat?" Kurogane retorted.

"A little more politeness would be appreciated when talking to a lady, don't you think?" said the woman, crossing her arms disappointedly. "Well let's just say that if I have a little talk with the manager of this store, you won't be able to set foot in here again without being branded as a child abuser." she said, smugly.

Kurogane blinked. Was she blackmailing him? "Listen lady-" he began.

"So what's it going to be, hm? Your pride or your reputation?" asked the woman, grinning and repeatedly stabbing him in the chest with a thin manicured finger.

Kurogane growled. She _was_ blackmailing him.

"Where's the brat?" he growled in resignation.

"I wouldn't recommend calling her that while apologizing to her." the woman smirked. "Come on out Mokona. The kitty man is ready to say he's sorry." she cooed, looking behind her.

A short arm reached around the woman's legs and the girl poked her head out from behind the woman. Her face was red with crying and her nose was running. "Kitty man say... sowwy?" she sniffled.

"Yes that's right." the woman told her. "Well go on. Try to be as sincere as you can." the woman said, turning back to Kurogane, smirking.

His pride was something very important to him, and he didn't take any threats to it lightly. On the other hand, his reputation was something that mattered far less. He didn't care what other people thought of him as long as they didn't cause him any difficulty. The store staff, however, was definitely going to be a nuisance if he was blackmailed. He stood there pondering this, facing the girl without speaking.

When he still didn't answer, her face screwed up and she opened her mouth to let out another screech that would alert the already vigilant store clerk. Seeing the danger, Kurogane quickly crouched down and covered her mouth with his hand, silencing her. Mokona bit down on his hand in retaliation and caused him to fall over on his backside. He cursed very loudly. The girl was now biting her lip with tears welling up in her eyes, hands twisting her clothes nervously. She looked furious and hurt.

Kurogane looked up to see the dark haired woman looking down at him both literally and figuratively.

"I see. So this is your answer." she said, very ominously. "Come along, Mokona, we have to go now." She told the sniffling girl, taking her hand. Kurogane jumped to his feet.

"Hey, wait a-"

"I am not going to tell the manager but listen to what I have to say." The woman interrupted. "Watch out for Karma. Be careful of what you do and say because it can lead even the greatest to their demise. That is all the warning I am going to give you." she spoke. Her voice was mysterious and she was staring at Kurogane as if she could see right through him into his very soul. He could not speak.

The woman suddenly regained her good humor as she turned to the little girl. "Auntie has a treat for you waiting at home! It's your favorite. Let's hurry up so your brother won't eat it all first." She chirped. The girl's face brightened as she walked off and she started squealing again in her annoying high pitched voice "TIRAMISU! TIRAMISU! YAAAAY!!!"

Kurogane shook his head to clear the shock and resumed his grocery shopping. He wasn't going to be blackmailed after all.

He should have been relieved, but something about the woman's warning had put him on edge. He shuddered. He really had nothing to worry about. At least that's what he told himself. All through the ride home he couldn't stop thinking about the woman and her mysterious warning. Had he done something terrible to upset his karma? He pondered this but still couldn't think of anything.

It was only when he had arrived back at his apartment that he remembered he didn't believe in that kind of thing. Karma was something crazy fortune tellers made up to strip people of their money. Kurogane was someone that took control of his own destiny and his past didn't have any power over the future. That kind of superstition was for those who didn't want to believe they were in charge of their own lives. Finishing this thought, Kurogane was able to sit down to work on his bills again with some peace of mind.

* * *

When Kurogane had finished cleaning up the ink spilled earlier and with doing his bills, he decided to go talk to Tomoyo. He was going to have to tell her sooner or later that he had lost Little Doggy so he might as well get it over with now while he had the time. He didn't take his motorcycle, but chose to walk instead for the exercise.

Tomoyo was a very difficult person to get angry. She was always calm and possessed an endless supply of patience. She did, however, get disappointed, and that was most usually by fault of Kurogane. Tomoyo was always expecting him to be a kind and thoughtful person; even though she knew he was always doing things to dispel that image. She never stopped believing that he would change no matter what he did. She always annoyed the hell out of him and he wished that she would just give up on him, but nevertheless, he continued being her friend.

The Piffle Princess Clothing & Design store was built snugly between a classy café and a used bookstore in a small strip mall. The outside was very eye-catching, painted in fall colors with the charming logo standing out next to the domain above the double doors. Smart fall outfits were set up in the display windows, accentuated by tree branches with leaves in striking colors. The interior was sparingly furnished but very chic and stylish.

Kurogane walked up to the reception desk to face Souma. She was drinking a steaming cup coffee as Kurogane approached, and upon seeing him, she set the cup down and smiled politely. "Hello, Kurogane." she greeted him. He nodded in reply. "Did you know that Tomoyo has been expecting you?" she asked. "No. I didn't tell her I was coming." he said. This only surprised him half as much as it should have. "Where is she?" he asked. "She's in the back. She said something about going out somewhere so you should hurry and catch her before she leaves." she advised. He grunted his thanks and went down the hall towards Tomoyo's workroom. As he was about to knock, a girl opened the door form the inside.

She was fair skinned with long, wavy, black hair, and light violet eyes. She was just over half Kurogane's height. She was dressed in a knit violet cardigan and beret with a pale lilac turtleneck and tiered skirt. She looked up at the man in front of her and sighed. "Hello, Kurogane." she greeted him. Her voice was crystal clear and fine. "Souma may have already told you this, but I have been expecting you." she told him. "And why's that?" asked Kurogane, a feeling of dread welling up in his stomach. "Well, you see. I was reading the newspaper this morning and I came across a very amusing article about-"

"Ahh! Come on! How many people have heard about this?" he shouted, hysterically. "Kurogane; Do not shout in my office." she scolded him. "Why don't you come with me next door so you can tell me all about it?" she asked, smiling sweetly. "Why not? Because I don't want to talk about it! That's why!" he told her. "Volume, please." she chided again. "Well if you don't want to talk about that, then will you at least tell me what happened to Little Doggy?" she asked, without accusation. Kurogane massaged his forehead in stress. "How in the hell did you figure that out?" he asked, grudgingly. "I will tell you if you agree to pay for the coffee." she replied mischievously. Kurogane too his hand away from his face and glared down at her. "Fine, but you're not getting any expensive crap like last time."

Tomoyo led the man out of the building, stopping to say goodbye to Souma and to compliment her shoes, and into the elegant café next door. The ambiance inside was very comfortable and a sweet jazzy tune floated through the air. Kurogane and Tomoyo sat down at a small table by the window. Once they were seated comfortably, Tomoyo asked "So, first tell me how it happened that you went into a burning building to save a cat and then how you lost Little Doggy." she said, getting herself comfortable for the story.

Kurogane groaned and began telling the incidents that happened from when he took Little Doggy for a walk, to when he returned to the place he was left to find him missing. All the while Kurogane was speaking, Tomoyo said nothing. By the time he was finished, Tomoyo had a thoughtful and somewhat worried expression on her face.

"What's wrong?" asked Kurogane.

"You said that there was no smoke alarm, didn't you?" she asked him.

"Yeah? So what about it?" he replied. "None of the lights were on, so it must have been a power outage."

Tomoyo put her hand to her cheek. "That's just it. Smoke detectors that do not run on independent power sources have been outdated for several years. Besides that, why would the power be out in the first place when the street lamps were working perfectly?" she asked.

"Maybe he forgot to pay his bills?" offered Kurogane.

Tomoyo smiled. "True, maybe he did." She admitted. "But that still doesn't explain his actions. Why was he so laid back if he had just found out he was in danger? It sounds to me that he was at expecting it to happen. Otherwise, he would show a little more concern." she explained.

"Are you saying that this guy tried to commit suicide by burning his house down?" asked Kurogane.

Tomoyo frowned. "That could very well be the case. There are so many people that suffer in silence with no one to share their burden with. It is a very sad thing when they decide to end their suffering in suicide without trying to talk with someone first." she lamented quietly.

They both sat in silence for a few seconds.

Kurogane thought over her words. He remembered that one moment when he was speaking to the blond man and he suddenly dropped that idiotic smile from his face. He seemed to be regretting something and the expression was more serious and melancholic than depressed. Kurogane decided to ignore it, though. After all, what did he know about suicidal people?

Suddenly, a small cough brought him out of his thoughts. He looked up to see a young silver haired man with glasses waiting to take his and Tomoyo's order. "Good morning, Yukito. Today, I'll have some oolong tea and a warm croissant." Tomoyo told the young waiter.

"Of course, miss Tomoyo." the man said, smiling. "And what would you like to order, sir?" the man asked Kurogane.

"Nothing." he replied shortly.

Tomoyo looked at him strangely. "Are you sure you don't want anything, Kurogane?" she asked him.

"Yes, I'm sure. I'm the one that's paying here, remember?." he told her.

"Well suit yourself, then." she said. "Thank you, Yukito." she told the waiter, kindly.

He smiled and left to relay their order to the cook.

"In any case," Tomoyo said, turning back to Kurogane. "I am very disappointed in you for losing Little Doggy. You should have been more careful with him." she scolded.

"Fine, whatever. I'm sorry. But what can I do now?" he asked her, unperturbed.

"Well, first you should take this picture," she took a small photograph from her purse as she spoke. "and use it to print posters to alert the locals that he is missing." She handed the picture to Kurogane. He began to protest, but suddenly decided the better of it and grumbled to himself unhappily.

Tomoyo smiled gently in approval. "I will lend you the money to go to the printers but you will have to put them up yourself, because seem to have be on quite a tight schedule lately." she explained.

"You just don't want to get up off your butt and do something that doesn't have to do with frilly clothes and crap. Am I right?" he asked.

"Kurogane! I will not tolerate you speaking to me in such a way!" she exclaimed, but covered her mouth as she laughed mischievously.

"I knew it." groaned the man, sullenly.

Eventually, the waiter came back with Tomoyo's tea and croissant. Tomoyo and Kurogane sat in the cafe for a while, talking about work and the economy until Tomoyo checked the time and decided it was time to go back to work. They both said their goodbyes and left, Tomoyo to her building and Kurogane to his apartment.

Kurogane only realized when he got back, that he had nothing to do now that he didn't have to go to work. He decided that he should get the posters printed for Tomoyo now so as to get them out of the way for later; So he picked up his biker's jacket and went out to the parking complex for his motorcycle. After driving to the local copy store only to find it closed for the day, he decided to go to the next closest store. He had never been there before, but he knew the location. It would be a slightly longer drive but the prices were supposedly lower. With a tired sigh, the very tired and irritated man set off for the drive out of town.

* * *

I'm very sorry for the wait for this chapter. I am also terribly sorry about the format, which I have constantly been battling with. Microsoft word and the FF document editor just don't seem to agree with each other.

Also, I used a character from another series by CLAMP called RGveda. If Kujaku seems out of character, it's probably because I've never read the series before.

Thanks for your reviews!

This part was actually supposed to go into the next chapter but I put it here by mistake. Behold the preview of chapter 3!

* * *

**Chapter 3: Stargazing**

After arriving at the out-of-town copy store only to find that it, too was closed for the day, Kurogane headed home with renewed frustration. Tomorrow he was going to have to go to the local copy store with Tomoyo and listen to her complaining and bickering again.

The sun had been setting earlier and earlier every day. The sky was a pale and dark gray color, mostly covered in thick stratus clouds that blocked the setting sun from view. The atmosphere was heavy and depressing. Kurogane, however was not affected by the bad weather. The shade from the heavy clouds cooled down his frustration from earlier and he allowed himself to appreciate how the cold wind whipped through his clothing and into his helmet as he drove forty miles per hour. He was going very fast, but the last time he checked, it was just under the speed limit.


	3. Chapter 3: Stargazing

Firefighter Kurogane

by Scarlet Heaven

Hello everyone! It really did take me a while and I apologize for that, but chapter 3 is here! I have been really busy with schoolwork because I am lazy and get distracted easily, but I somehow still managed to get this chapter in in spite of it. I really appreciate your reviews and am very glad you seem to be enjoying it so far.

Also, I will soon get to work on the Spanish translation of the second chapter. The title of the translation is Bombero Kurogane in case anyone would like to try reading it.

Thank you very much! :3

* * *

Chapter 3: Stargazing

After arriving at the out-of-town copy store only to find that it, too was closed for the day, Kurogane headed home with renewed frustration. Tomorrow he was going to have to go to the local copy store with Tomoyo and listen to her complaining and bickering again. The sun had been setting earlier and earlier every day. The sky was a pale and dark gray color, mostly covered in thick stratus clouds that blocked the setting sun from view. The atmosphere was heavy and depressing.

Kurogane, however was not affected by the bad weather. The shade from the heavy clouds cooled down his frustration from earlier and he allowed himself to appreciate how the cold wind whipped through his clothing and into his helmet as he drove forty miles per hour. He was going very fast, but the last time he checked, it was just under the speed limit.

Kurogane felt like looking at the stars. He didn't know why he should feel that way but he did. Maybe it was the weather or maybe he was just tired. He just felt that the thing he wanted to do the most tonight was to go and watch the stars.

He knew a place in the city where the streetlamps were burnt out but no one bothered to replace them. An empty lot enclosed by tall towering buildings and surrounded by a oriental style fence that must have once surrounded the building inside. Now it was missing boards in places and the wood had corroded to the point where, if you ran your hand along it, it would be completely covered with splinters.

From this small, dark and empty lot, it was possible to see the sky clearly without any interference from the lights of the city. Even though it was only possible to see a small fraction of the sky, the view was breathtaking. Kurogane went there once in a while when he was out of town or if something was troubling him. Watching the stars always brought him a sense of peace and meaning.

Not many people came there because not many people knew of the place. Kurogane was thankful for that. Once, he had come there only to find a kid about seventeen and his girlfriend doing drugs there. He immediately got their attention and told them he would call the police if they didn't leave and they ran off rambling insanely. Kurogane was disgusted. He went straight home after that without even setting foot past the fence.

When he was almost there, he reduced speed so that he wouldn't run into anything in the dark. He parked his motorcycle outside of the fence but in a position where he would be able to see it easily from the inside.

The moment he cut the engine, silence enveloped the area. The only sounds were those of the soft breeze and the chirping of a lone insect somewhere in the grass. He walked past the fence and looked up towards the sky. The thick stratus clouds he had seen earlier had coated the dark sky like a pale curtain. It blocked out the light of the stars and only the soft silver light of the crescent moon was visible.

At this, Kurogane was deeply disappointed. The daily weather report had promised clear skies by the afternoon but the prediction was clearly inaccurate. By the way the clouds were moving, however, it appeared that it would clear up soon enough. Kurogane decided to wait it out, not wanting to have gone all the way there for nothing.

He began walking towards the center of the lot. As he walked, he stared up at the night sky trying to remember something someone had mentioned to him the other day. He couldn't remember what it was or who had said it, but he did remember that it had sounded like poetry. Suddenly, as he was pondering this, something happened that nearly made his heart stop.

He stepped on something soft and bumpy on the ground. It moved when he stepped on it and cried out sharply, causing him to fall over in shock. He quickly got up off the ground into a defensive crouch. His heart was racing but his features were sound and composed.

"Who's there?" he shouted a little more harshly than necessary. There was only a pained groan in response. The voice was male and it seemed to indicate the man was somewhere in his twenties. "Who the hell are you?" repeated Kurogane. There was a shuffling sound in the grass that sounded like the man was sitting up.

"Owww, that hurt!" said the man. "I'm sorry for scaring you, sir, but you do know that was my face you stepped on, right?" he asked, jokingly. The man's voice and tone were all too familiar.

"You! You're that suicidal psychopath from the burning building!" shouted Kurogane, suddenly very angry.

"Hm? You wouldn't happen to be that Mr Black that saved me back there, would you? Your name eludes me." asked the blond man, audibly trying to suppress a yawn.

"Goddammit, it's Kurogane! Not Mr Black or whatever!" shouted Kurogane.

"Oh." said the man softly. There was a pause that allowed the silence to seep back in. Kurogane could still not see the man's face, but he could make out a dark shape laid out on the ground about two meters away from him.

"Alright then, Kuro-tan, what brings you here?" the man asked, finally.

"Why are _you_ here? And call me by my name!" Kurogane added. Something disturbing suddenly occurred to him. "You're not getting high or doing drugs, are you?" he asked the man.

"What makes you think that?" asked the man. Kurogane could see the silhouette of the man tilt his head curiously.

"Only the obvious reasons." replied Kurogane. "Your house mysteriously burns down and you suddenly end up here in an empty abandoned lot by yourself at night." he explained.

"Well, just out of curiosity, how does that make me suicidal?" asked the man.

"You went into a burning building after acting all damn happy and smiley like you actually wanted it to burn down." said Kurogane.

"Ahh, I was cooking dinner and must have left something on the stove that caught fire." the man answered. "Also, I'm not insane. It's kind of mean to people with mental disabilities to go around calling random people who act out of the ordinary "psychopaths"." he explained, seemingly enjoying himself.

Kuogane was frustrated. How was he supposed to reason with someone like this?

"Okay, so why are you here, then?" he asked, practically fuming.

"Well, the house I was staying in was a friend's who isn't living here at the moment, but now that I can't stay there, I'm going to be staying here. It's actually not that bad once you get used to it." he explained.

"So, what? Now you're going to live here like a bum until your friend comes back? Why not get a job?" Kurogane inquired.

"I can't really keep a job because of my ankle. I'll be fine without one, though. I have enough money to keep me going for a while." explained the man.

"How the hell do you expect to stay alive without a home, a job, or money?" asked Kurogane.

"I do have money, only I'd rather spend it on food. That's what I went to get when I went back into the house." the man replied.

"You're an idiot, you know that?" Kurogane grumbled at him, loudly.

The man didn't reply. Even though he was still unable to see in the dark, Kurogane would have sworn the blond man was still smiling.

"If you're ankle is so badly hurt, you should go to the doctor. You at least have enough money for that, don't you?" he asked.

"Oh, it's not that bad. It should heal up by itself soon." the man said in reply. "Besides, I can't really afford that if I want to eat." he added.

Kurogane was at a loss. This man, although he seemed to be perfectly fine, had actually just lost most of everything he had in a single day and was just barely living off of the little he had left. He knew he shouldn't care what happened to this person, and he normally wouldn't, but something about the man's situation jogged his memory and made him consider.

He remembered his mother and how he wasn't able to save her. The second time when he had hesitated to save her, was the greatest mistake of his life. He hadn't saved this man's life once just to let him die on the streets afterwards. He was going to help this man.

"Hey, can you stand okay?" he asked the man, almost reluctantly.

"Yes, I can. Why?" asked the man.

"Because you're coming with me." he answered. "You can't just live out here. You have no idea what could happen to you if you stay out on the streets. You're coming to my place for the night and in the morning you're going to see a doctor." He explained gruffly, standing up.

The man was silent for a few seconds before replying.

"I can't pay you, you know." he said, sounding slightly confused.

"You can pay me once you get a job. Until then, you're staying with me." Kurogane stated.

There was a longer pause before the man spoke again.

"It wasn't my intention to make it seem as if I needed help, so I'm sorry if that's how I came across. Thanks for the offer, though." he told Kurogane apologetically.

"That wasn't an offer, idiot. You're coming with me." Kurogane told him, gruffly, making his way over to where the man was sitting.

The blond's form seemed to shrink back from Kurogane as he approached.

"I'm not going to sell myself if that's what you're after." he said slowly, misunderstanding.

Kurogane stopped. "Sell your...? What do you mean? You're a guy, aren't you?" Kurogane asked.

There was a moment of silence as the blond's words sunk in.

"What the hell?! That's disgusting! Why would I...? You...!" he sputtered, turning red with embarrassment.

The blond seemed to understand Kurogane's intentions through his embarrassment. "Aha, I see. Only after girls, then?" he joked, pushing Kurogane further into embarrassment.

"I'm not some disgusting pervert, you bastard!" Kurogane shouted down at him, his face turning even redder. The blond laughed, as Kurogane stood over him, fuming.

The man seemed to find extreme pleasure in annoying Kurogane. This idiot was going to make Kurogane's decision all the harder, but although he knew it wasn't going to be easy, Kurogane was not going back on his words. Kurogane grumbled out a few choice curse-words before speaking again.

"Get up and take whatever you have with you. We're leaving _now_." he said, harshly.

"Wait, can I bring Sakura kitty? I can't leave her here." asked the man.

"Damn it! Do you really have to bring that thing?" Kurogane asked.

"Yes." the man replied shortly and matter-of-factly.

Now above everything, he was going to be subjected to taking care of a kitten as well? He might as well just be shot.

"Fine! Get it and bring it here." he grumbled.

"Is it okay if I bring Mr. Puppy, too?" asked the blond. This time his voice left a little more room for leniency.

"What's 'Mr. Puppy'?" asked Kurogane, reluctantly.

"I found a puppy hiding here and he seems to get along well with Sakura kitty." he explained.

Kurogane hesitated for a second, seemingly trying to decide, but in reality, only postponing the inevitable.

"Fine. Get them both and let's go. " he said, giving in.

The man got up onto his feet and, not without difficulty, walked to the corner of the lot, presumably to gather Sakura kitty and the Mr. Puppy. Kurogane stood where he was, waiting. The man spoke something softly to the ground and gathered something in his arms before turning around and approaching Kurogane.

The man had almost reached Kurogane when he suddenly lurched forwards. His foot must have caught on something and tripped him because he started to fall, but the clearest thing that could be heard was an eerily loud snapping noise. The man gave a sharp intake of breath as he fell, but there was no scream. He hit the ground and the animals in his arms yelped in protest. The man was silent.

Kurogane raced to the man, fearful of what had happened. The blond laid on his side on the ground, his whole body tensed up. Kurogane grabbed the man's shoulder and rolled him onto his back.

"Hey! What happened? Are you okay?" he near shouted.

The man took a few shaky breaths before replying. "I think something happened to my ankle." he said. His voice lacked it's usual serenity.

"Damn it. You probably compounded the fracture!" exclaimed Kurogane. He thought over the situation and decided.

"I'm taking you to see the doctor in the morning." he told him. "Are you still holding those animals?" he asked.

The man nodded. Though his visibility was still low in the darkness, Kurogane was still able to recognize the man's small gesture.

He reached under the man and picked him up off the ground bridal style. The blond's body tensed up when his foot swung off the ground but he slowly tried to relax as he was carried out of the lot. Kurogane reached the outside of the fence and set the man down gently up against the wall.

He took the small kitten and puppy out of the man's arms and placed them in the cushioned basket at the back of his motorcycle that he used to transport groceries, and closed the lid halfway; Then he went back over to where the man was sitting.

"Have you ever been on a motorcycle before?" he asked.

The man shook his head.

Kurogane groaned. "You're going to sit behind me, okay? Just try to follow my movements. When I lean left, you lean left. When I lean right, you lean right. Got it?" he asked.

The man nodded.

Kurogane picked the man back up and carried him over to the vehicle. He set him down on the seat and, still holding him to keep him from falling, got out his keys. "Try not to put any weight on your foot." He said, sitting down on the front part of the seat and starting the engine.

The roar of the machine dispelled the silence that Kurogane had forgotten was even present. The man wrapped his arms tightly around Kurogane's waist as if in fear. Kurogane finally kicked off and started driving back towards his apartment.

The blond was unexpectedly good at following Kurogane's directions. He followed the curves of the road as the bike tore past almost like a natural. At least that was one thing that made Kurogane's decision easier, if only a little.

* * *

By the time they had arrived at Kurogane's apartment, the clouds had passed leaving the sky clear. Kurogane had decided to park his motorcycle in front of the apartment building so that he could get the man and his pets up to his apartment without having to walk the distance from the parking lot.

The blond man had been hanging on tightly to Kurogane the entire time and had not loosened his grip, but when Kurogane cut the engine, he could feel the man shivering against him. He turned around to talk to him and realized he had his head buried in his back.

"Oi, you can let go now. We're here." he said, monotonously. The man raised his head to look at him and smiled.

"Kuro-tan drove really fast! That was fun!" he said, releasing his grip and sitting back. His voice was shaking.

"Hey, are you okay?" asked Kurogane. "Well I don't think I can walk, if that's what you mean." the blond replied. Kurogane unmounted the bike while making sure to keep the man from falling over.

"You're shaking." he stated.

The man looked confused for a second and he drew his hand up so he could see it. It was trembling in cold and his skin was pale and dry like paper.

"It must be really cold. I can't feel much." he said, flexing his fingers with some stiffness.

"Damn it, you're hardly wearing anything but that skinny sweater an it's under thirty degrees. On top of all of this you're going to freeze to death on me?" Kurogane complained.

"Um, I don't mean to be rude but you offered to help me. Why are you doing this if you're so annoyed by it?" the man asked.

"Shut up!" was the only reply Kurogane gave. "I'm going to carry you to my apartment. Don't move too much or I might drop you." he said, briskly. He bent over and hoisted the smaller man over his shoulder with ease.

The man was unexpectedly light.

"You're pretty strong, mister Kuro-sama!" commented the blond as he was carried towards the building.

"Keep up those weird names and I might actually drop you on purpose!" He grumbled loudly. He carried the man inside the building and up to his apartment door. He had to struggle a little to get his keys but made it inside soon enough.

Once he was inside, he dropped the man onto the couch, not paying attention to the man's gasp of pain as his foot was dropped. He threw a blanket that was lying somewhere over him to keep him warm. "I'll be right back. Don't move, don't make any noise and don't touch anything." he told him as he left.

He made his way back to his motorcycle and opened the basket that held the kitten and puppy. Both animals were curled up together sharing warmth and comfort. When Kurogane opened the lid, the puppy started and got to its feet.

Kurogane was taken aback with surprise. "Little... Doggy?" he murmured. The small brown puppy only whined happily at seeing it's owner.

"That guy's got a hell of a lot of explaining to do." Kurogane grumbled in undertones as he picked up Little Puppy and Sakura Kitty into his arms. He carried the animals up to his apartment and set them down on the floor when he got in.

He looked up to see the man lying down exactly where he had left him on the couch wrapped up in the blanket Kurogane had thrown at him.

"Sakura Kitty!" the man shouted when he saw the kitten Kurogane was carrying.

The animal recognized her owner's voice and padded over to him, mewling happily. He picked the kitten up and placed her onto his chest where she curled up contentedly.

"Thank you Kuropii." he said, looking gratefully towards Kurogane.

The red eyed man only stood glaring at the blond with his arms crossed angrily. The man's grin faded slightly as he stared back at Kurogane. They didn't speak for a while as the taller man tried to untangle his thoughts.

Finally he spoke.

"Why the hell do you have Little Doggy?" he asked.

The man looked confused. "Little Doggy? You mean Mr. Puppy? I just found him with Sakura Kitty when I woke up after the fire yesterday. They seemed really friendly with each other so I took him along with us." he explained.

"Didn't it occur to you that he belonged to somebody?" asked Kurogane.

The blond's eyes lit up in realization. "He's yours? Wow, I wouldn't have imagined that the famous 'Kitty Man' is actually a dog person!" he exclaimed.

Kurogane exploded. "Just how many people read that read that fucking insane newspaper?!" he shouted.

The blond laughed bemusedly at the taller man's distress.

"Stop laughing, goddamn it!" Kurogane shouted angrily, pointing at the man's face in indignation.

The blond apparently decided to play it safe and stopped, but didn't remove the amused grin from his face. "Sorry. I couldn't help myself." he apologized.

"Um, do you think I could have something for my foot? It's starting to ache." he asked, making a strange face and stroking Sakura Kitty.

"Yeah. We should bandage it and put some ice on it to reduce the swelling. I'll see if I can find something we can use as a splint." replied Kurogane, walking off into the kitchen. He soon came back with a bag of ice and some bandages.

"I couldn't find anything to use for a splint, but this should do well enough overnight." he said, holding up the items. "Now let me see your foot." he ordered, putting down the things and crouching down in front of the couch.

The man leaned forwards and began removing his sneaker, but flinched away when he pulled a little too hard. He started again, but Kurogane stopped him, grabbing his wrist.

"If it's hurting you so much, let me do it. I don't want this to take all night." he offered. The man gave him a relieved smile and leaned back. Kurogane took off the shoe as gently as he could but the man still stiffened when the shoe pulled at his heel. When Kurogane pulled down the man's sock, he frowned in worry.

There was a very large swollen area on the man's ankle that was deep red-purplish color circled by less recent fading yellow and green bruises. The man had obviously broken his ankle and had been using it too often while it was still healing and just now he had re-broken it.

"Damn, this is worse than I thought." he murmured. He looked the man in the eyes. "But I'm still not going to be able to get you to the doctor until morning. Do you want to take a painkiller?" he asked.

The man smiled and said "No, thanks." and Kurogane got to work wrapping the ankle. The man constantly twitched and flinched as his foot was wrapped firmly with bandages.

"Do you think you could do that a little more loosely?" he asked, his voice strained.

"No." replied Kurogane without looking up. "It needs to stay tight so that the bone doesn't shift any more than it already has." he explained.

"Ah, I see." replied the blond, obviously not at all convinced.

Once Kurogane was finished, he elevated the man's foot by laying his leg over the arm of the couch and placed the bag of ice over it.

"You're really good at this." commented the blond cheerily now that the torture was over. He examined his now bandaged ankle. It looked deformed because of the swelling, but it was impossible to tell whether the bone had shifted.

"I had to learn first aid before becoming a firefighter. It's part of the job." he said, distractedly, as he collected the leftover bandages. Suddenly, he realized what he had just said and glared defensively at the blond. "I'm not going to talk about my old job so don't ask." he warned, solemnly. The blond nodded, understanding. "I get it. There are some things that people just can't talk about. I won't bother you about it." he promised.

"Hey, you wouldn't happen to have some foundation around here, would you?" he asked, suddenly.

"No. What makes you think I'd have foundation? Makeup is for girls." replied Kurogane, critically.

The blonde looked at him strangely. "You're really gender biased, aren't you?" he asked.

"It's not 'gendar biased' it's called not being a fag. Why would you want that stuff anyway?" retorted Kurogane. The man shook his head, laughing. "You really should stop cursing like that. It's not good for you." He had completely ignored Kurogane's question.

"Shut up. It's a free country." Kurogane replied. "And stop laughing!"

"I can laugh if I want. It's a free country." he said, imitating Kurogane's tone of voice. Kurogane glared at him shortly, then got up. "Not in my house it isn't." he countered.

"Are you hungry?"

"Yes, very. Do you have something to eat?"

"No. I'm ordering pizza. Any allergies?"

"Nope, but I won't eat anything raw."

"I guess you've never had sushi, then?"

"Of course not. I can't understand why so many people consider raw fish on rice to be a delicacy."

"Tch, wuss."

Kurogane walked into the kitchen and ordered a pizza from his favorite pizzeria. When he was finished, he walked back to the living room to sit cross legged on the floor in front of the couch.

"Now, you're going to have to tell me about yourself so I can bring you to the doctor. He's not going to treat you with no information. Besides, I'm not going to let some random stranger live with me without knowing anything about him first." He told the man sternly.

"So what do you want to know?" asked the blond. His lips tightened.

"Well for starters, what's your name?" asked Kurogane.

The man paused for only a second, but Kurogane took note of his hesitation. "I'm Fye." he said with a wide grin. "Fye D Fluorite. Nice to meet you!" he extended his hand towards the dark haired man politely.

"Sure." replied Kurogane, ignoring the man's hand. "That's a really unusual name." he remarked.

"Well your name isn't so normal either if you hadn't noticed. Really, what kind of a name is Kuro-poo?" Fye replied, jokingly.

"It's KUROGANE, dammit!" he shouted, hitting the floor with a fist for emphasis.

Fye only giggled. "You know, I'm not staying in some random stranger's house without knowing anything about him either." he said, his grinning face becoming more composed and lightly amused. "For every question I answer, you have to give your own answer."

Kurogane sighed. It was only fair. "Fine. I'm Kurogane Suwa. Though you already knew my first name."

"Okay, Kuro-pyon!" chirped Fye.

"Next question." Kurogane said, gruffly. Ignoring the misuse of his name in order not to waste time. "If that was a friend's house you were staying in, where did you live before?" he asked.  
"Well, I've been living in Italy until a few years ago. Although I was born in France."

"Hmph. I could tell you must have spent some time there. You have a bit of an accent."

"Most people don't notice it. Your very observant."

"Yeah. I lived in Japan until I was five, then I moved here."

"Really? I always wanted to learn Japanese."

"Next question. How much schooling have you had?"

"Hmmm. Well I've gone to college and have a doctorate in chemistry and a bachelor's in culinary art but that's about it."

"The fuck?! Are you serious? Why aren't you employed?"

"That's not one of the questions, is it?"

"No."

Kurogane was baffled as to why this airhead of a man didn't have a job or as to how he was able to get that high of a degree in the first place, but it would have to wait.

"Okay, next-"

Kurogane was about to continue the interrogation, when there was a knock at the door. Kurogane got up to answer it, leaving Fye on the couch.

He opened the door to a friendly looking man with short black hair who was holding up a cushioned box of pizza in one hand.

"Heya Kurogane! Howdy do?" he asked, removing two steaming boxes of pizza from the container and handing them over. He had a heavy southern accent and spoke to Kurogane with familiarity.

"Fine, Sorata." Kurogane replied. "How much?" he asked.

"Jus' the usual." replied Sorata, accepting the money Kurogane had retrieved from his wallet.

Suddenly, Fye called out from the couch.

"Hey Kuro-rin! Hurry up, I'm hungry!"

"Shut up, idiot!" Kurogane called back.

Sorata looked around the pizza wielding man to see the scrawny blond lying on the couch.

"Hello there!" he called.

He turned to Kurogane. "Who's that? Yer new gal-friend?" he asked, shoving his elbow into the man's side.

Kurogane blanched. "HELL NO! How do you mistake that idiot for a girl?! That's disgusting!" he roared.

Sorata was taken aback. "Ya know, ya never struck me as the kinda guy ter go fer otha guys, but don't be so hard on ter girls, ya scallawag!" he threatened.

Kurogane didn't really understand what was going on but he was sure it wouldn't end well.

"I'm not fucking g-!" he tried.

"Just wait 'till I tell my honey on yew!" Sorata interrupted, running off towards the exit.

"Wait, dammit!" Kurogane shouted, starting to run after the deranged pizza man but deciding the better of it.

He returned to the apartment, slamming the door closed behind him. He set down the pizzas on a nearby table and turned to face Fye.

"This is all your fault. Now he's going to go around gossiping to everyone in the city. If you weren't injured right now, I'd kill you!" he warned, placing a palm to his forehead.

"I'm sorry." replied Fye. "I didn't mean to inconvenience you by calling out like that." he apologized.

"Whatever." Kurogane replied.

He went into the kitchen and got two plates from the cupboard, handing one to Fye and keeping the other for himself. He moved the pizza to a low standing table in front of the couch and opened it so that Fye could get some. He then went back to the kitchen and grabbed two glasses, filled them with water, and brought them back to the couch.

When he returned with the water, he found that Fye had loaded his plate with three slices of pizza and was eating very hungrily.

"What are you doing?" Kurogane asked.

Fye finished chewing, swallowed, and looked up. "Eating." he replied simply.

He then proceeded to take another bite out of his pizza like he couldn't get enough of it.

"Just how long has it been since you last ate?" asked Kurogane. He watched Fye inhale his pizza as he got a slice of his own.

Fye took a moment to consider while he chewed.

"The day before yesterday, I think." he decided before taking another bite.

Kurogane humphed and dug in to the pizza. They both ate in silence until the food was gone. Kurogane trashed the box and brought the glasses to the sink to wash them. When he was finished, he tossed Fye another blanket, informing him that the temperature would go down during the night and that he would be woken at seven in the morning to visit the doctor.

Fye thanked him for his hospitality and went to sleep. Kurogane retired to his own room and settled down for the night but found himself unable to sleep. How could he considering there was a stranger sleeping in his living room. Especially one that acted so strangely.

He stared out the window for a while until remembering a thought from before. He remembered pondering something someone had said to him. Looking at the view from his window again and thinking about Fye, he was able to remember.

_ "People are always saying how beautiful the sky is during the day, but I think it looks best at night, don't you? All the stars are like jewels set in black velvet. It's astounding, don't you think?" the blond prattled weakly, his voice sounding strange through the oxygen mask. _

_  
_The sky that night was clouded and polluted by the city lights. It would have been impossible to see any stars._  
_Kurogane didn't get any sleep the whole night.

* * *

a/n: Ahhh, it's so nice to be done with another chapter! As long as there is even one person out there reviewing my story, I will continue writing!

I had a bit of trouble with Sorata's Southern accent so I hope it didn't turn out sounding too strange.

Thank you for reading! We hope you've enjoyed today's chapter. Please remember to review on your way out. ^-^


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